Burnout Paradise to release this winter

Electronic Arts announced the title for the revolutionary new Burnout videogame currently in development for the PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360 videogame system. Players will be able to take their dangerous driving experience to a whole new level when Burnout Paradise is unleashed this winter.

Burnout Paradise proves that crashing is awesome! Next generation technology has enabled an unprecedented level of crash deformation allowing you to experience the most explosive pile-ups in the series’ history. Now the development team can realise their original vision for the Burnout franchise: an open world environment where you can do anything, anywhere, anytime!

“We have been working towards Burnout Paradise for quite some time. Next generation consoles have opened up a raft of new gameplay opportunities and the Criterion team has leapt at the chance to innovate and raise the bar to an all-new high,” said Pete Hawley, Executive Producer, Burnout Paradise. “There are going to be some big surprises and a lot of new features but the core of the game is still pure Burnout. Instant accessibility will be reinforced by innovative on-line capabilities which will see Burnout Paradise smash racing conventions.’’

Feel the adrenaline course through your veins as you take to the road for the first time in Paradise City, where the action is all around you. Explore the city, discover events, and look for the best opportunities to crash, jump and pull signature takedowns. In Burnout Paradise you’re given the keys to the city, but it’s up to you to earn the keys to the meanest and most dangerous cars on the street, and earn your Burnout licence.

The Settlers: Rise of an Empire announced

Ubisoft officially announced that The Settlers – Rise Of An Empire, Blue Byte’s sixth game in this popular strategic simulation series, will be released in September 2007.

In this game, the player builds lively, bustling towns in a medieval world. Everything is visible, lovingly animated and realistic. Each settler has his or her own daily routine, with a range of different actions and behaviours that can be observed by the player at all times. This enables him to get the best out of his Settlers, build up a flourishing economy, tend to his settlers’ needs, and protect his empire against danger from the outside. By expanding his empire, the player can aspire to becoming a legendary king or queen.

The most popular features of the predecessors in the series have been retained, and many of the fans desires and wishes were incorporated into the new game to create a very special Settlers atmosphere. The result is a realistic medieval world, captured in intricate detail. The game features an immersive, yet transparent economic system based on the resources, wares and goods produced by the settlers in their various trades and occupations.

Top features:
A very special Settlers atmosphere in a lively medieval game world!

• The primary objective of the game is to create large, lively medieval towns.
• The settlers interact with each other in a completely natural way and have wants and needs of their own.
• Female settlers appear for the first time in the series: Men and women fall in love with each other and marry.
• The lively, detailed game world is rich in animal and plant life.
• The settlers’ busy life is presented in lovingly rendered animations that show what is going on in a transparent way.
• The world is divided into four climatic zones with changes of season and weather which influence expansion and resource gathering.

The best Settlers game of all time, featuring the best from previous games and lots of gameplay innovations!

• The game’s instant accessibility and gentle learning curve ensure long-lasting fun; even in advanced game missions, new features are introduced.
• All interventions by the player are reflected in the behaviour of his subjects and made transparent through the animations in the game world.
• Starting with a small settlement, the player builds up flourishing towns, maintains trade relations, and claims land and villages. This requires diplomatic skills.
• Mining, gathering resources, and food production result from wise planning and the various occupations of the settlers.
• Goods transport is optimized through skilful road planning.
• Upgrading buildings step-by-step improves the effectiveness of the economy and towns.
• By hiring travelling entertainers and organizing fairs, the player acts as a matchmaker by enabling male and female settlers to get to know each other.
• The player can build walls to protect his towns from enemy attacks. In military actions, the player must prove that he has built up his empire in such a way that it can defend itself effectively.
• Missions featuring noble knights with various skills accompany the player through the epic storyline penned by Jeff Grubb.
• Included in the game: dynamic single player campaign, freeplay mode with a multitude of maps, numerous multiplayer options via LAN and Internet, and a map editor.

And here is the trailer:

Full Auto 2: Battlelines

The first time you look at Full Auto 2’s cover, you would probably be thinking ‘OMG! Twisted Metal in High Def!’. For me at least, it brought back memories of yore. So forgive my excitement over the game I though would fulfil my desires of vehicular carnage I had been waiting so long for.

The idea should be clear by now; Full Auto 2 is anything but Twisted Metal. It’s not exactly unfair to draw comparisons between Full Auto and Twisted Metal. Where Twisted Metal was fun, especially multiplayer; with a good story and quirky yet exciting characters, Full Auto 2 is the exact opposite.

The first thing you notice about Full Auto 2 is the gameplay. It feels really smooth, like water flowing through rocks in a river. Don’t mistake this sensation for a good experience, like Ridge Racer 7 for instance. The game is so smooth because the physics aren’t right. The cars don’t handle as one would expect. You’re just going all over the place. So? It’s just an arcade racer you say. Well, that doesn’t exactly sit right when your car is coming out from a turn whilst at the same time crashing into every object from behind and there is no opposite reaction. Remember Newton’s third law? Full Auto 2 only implements this when you are using the boost to fly past your opponents only to crash into a very inappropriately placed barrier.

But let’s forget the bad driving mechanics and talk about the guns. You start off with a pathetic combo of a machine gun and smoke screen as your front and rear weapon respectively. Soon this will be replaced by shotguns, rocket launchers, land mines, and so on. All of this new arsenal may make you feel better the first time you get them, but the feeling soon wears thin when you can’t aim properly. Don’t get me wrong, the aiming is fine, it’s just that you will be more busy using the other face buttons (firing your weapons) instead of the right analog stick (used for aiming). Still with a little practice you may feel used to doing it, but never comfortable.

Now that we have what makes the game not fun out of the way, let’s move onto the lesser important things, like visuals and all. In case you didn’t know already, Full Auto 2 is a sequel to the original Full Auto that appeared on Xbox 360 early last year. Of course we all know that it isn’t a sequel per se, since it is for all intents and purposes, a direct port of the 360 version. The game is indeed running in 1080p, but that’s accompanied with regular drops in frame rates when there are too many explosions onscreen. Textures look good but the city backdrops and general maps don’t look as detailed as you we would have liked. All said and done, it still looks better and runs smoother than the 360 version, but the difference is negligible.

The sound effects are nothing spectacular either. One would expect screeching noises of tyres burning, metal crushing against metal, glass breaking in every direction and explosions everywhere the eyes can see to sound mind-blowing, but it’s nothing that would leave a lasting impact like Burnout does. The BGM scheme is good, where when you start doing something impressive, like winning, tracks change from generic music to licensed tracks. Sounds cool, but like everything else in the game, is poorly executed.

Finally let’s go onto the multiplayer. And the less said about it, the better. Every time I logged on for some (mediocre) action online, I couldn’t find anybody to play with. Could be because there aren’t many PS3’s (I doubt), or because people made the sensible choice of not buying the game (most likely). I suppose the only consolation from playing online would have been to see others share in your frustration of the level design, alas that too has been taken away from us.

To wrap things up I’ll say that if you enjoy unreal driving gameplay (in a totally weird way) and blowing things up (stuttering whenever things start looking good) by yourself (offline and online), then Full Auto 2: Battlelines is definitely the game for you. Unfortunately, normal humans will have to look elsewhere.

Gears of War movie script leaked

Since the announcement that Gears of War will be made for the silver screen, each and every Gears of War fans have been curious how the movie will turn out, who will play the iconic characters and what the story will be like. We can’t tell you about the first two, but the third one…well; the folks at LatinoReview.com have landed on a 22 page Gears of War script and have kindly summarized it for us.

I actually didn’t want to read it but I just couldn’t stop myself. I am about half way done and I must say the movie is turning out to be interesting. The story is a little different from the game but the screenplay sounds real good. Now it’s up to you, will you read the script and quench your thirst for more information on the movie or will you wait for the actual movie to release. Press LT or RT according to your choice.

Ancient Wars: Sparta

Okay, so this game isn’t based on 300, but it’s nevertheless quite an epic beast in itself. Set in the lovely lands of Greece, the game features three main civilizations: the Spartans (altogether now – SPARTAAAA!), the Egyptians, and the Persians. Each civilization of course has its own special units and strategies, and as you progress through the game, you get to unlock further unit upgrades and build up a stronger army.

The game plays like any standard medieval strategy game, much like Empire Earth or Age of Mythology. Your main goal is to gather resources, build up your armies, and troop over to the enemy camp for a little rendezvous.  Though not an entirely original concept, the game’s strong graphics and good storyline prevent the gameplay from being too boring. Each campaign plays through gracefully and with plenty of missions in store. The Spartan campaign unfolds the classic tale of how King Leonidas rallied his troops to fight off King Xerxes and his army. Similarly, the Persian campaign puts you in charge of Xerxes himself and his army, with your main objective being to obliterate the Spartans. The Egyptian campaign isn’t linked to this war, so  you get a brief break from the mammoth battle scenes.

A lot of focus has been put into how your army behaves and attacks. In addition to gathering resources, you can send workers to collect leftover weapons and armour from the battlefield, which you can then use on your own troops. Some unit buildings allow you to select which weapons and armour you want to equip to newly produced units. Initially you have rather weak weapons and armour, but as your progress and research upgrades, your units last longer in battle.

Battles become even more fierce when they move from land to the vast seas. Fleets of your ships skimming over the waters is an amazing sight, and the graphics engine pulls off some fantastic water and lighting effects in this area. Though the action on water is a bit less exciting than on land, it nevertheless feels like you’re commanding the greatest ships the world has ever seen.

Audio and visuals in the game are impressive, and build a lasting atmosphere for the game. Lighting and water effects appear beautifully, and quite a lot of detail has been put into unit and level design. Though in the preview build I played, there were some issues with textures not showing up correctly, but hopefully this will be fixed in the final build. As with any game where you’re commanding over 30 units at a time, there were some issues when attacking enemy units, with my units waddling around until they got a better shot at the enemy. Still, these can easily be fixed with a game patch once the game goes to the shelves.

In a nutshell, Ancient Wars: Sparta looks like a very promising game. With an in-depth storyline, impressive graphics, and lots of options with your army, this will be a strong contender in the RTS genre with plenty of gameplay hours.

Xbox 360 Launch Day 2

The Xbox 360 has finally come to the UAE, and right on cue, megamers was there to catch up on all the hype. I went down to Emirates Mall on the second day of the launch to check out what Microsoft was doing to bring this amazing console into the local market.

On display were 16 units, with players going through games such as Project Gotham Racing, Dead or Alive, Gears of War, 99 Knights, Brian Lara Cricket, and WWF. A DJ pumped music into the area as curious onlookers gathered at the gaming pods to give the Xbox 360 a try. The general feedback from the crowds was ‘awesome’ – people were really impressed by the level of detail that the games had, as well as how comfortable and easy to use the 360 controller was. Everyone from adults to kids could be seen trying out the different games on offer – I even saw a 7 year old girl try out Project Gotham Racing, and she aced the track! This just goes to show how the 360 appeals to anyone who wants to have some gaming fun, regardless of your age.

I managed to speak with Aman Sangar from Microsoft, and Sachin who was one of the promoters for the Xbox 360, to ask them a few questions.

MEGamers: So the 360 has finally come to the UAE, but what so many players want to know is what’s up with Xbox Live?

Aman and Sachin

Sachin: The Xbox Live is a really cool feature which allows you to connect to millions of players around the world, as well as access the Marketplace, where you can download new game demos, skins, and lots of great stuff for your games. At the moment, we’re still working on getting Xbox Live fully supported in the UAE to cater to the ever growing gaming community here. Once a server has been setup here, players can enjoy tons of content on their 360s, all accessible from the Marketplace.

MEG: What sort of feedback are you getting from the people coming down to the launch?
Sachin: Well, people are really impressed with how powerful the 360 is, and once they’ve played a couple of the games, they find it hard to put down the controllers! I’ve had people walk away, go buy the console, and come back down and show us that they bought it! People are really loving the gaming experience on a 360.

MEG: What’s your personal favorite game on the 360?
Sachin: That has to be Gears of War – awesome graphics, mind-blowing gameplay, and just a great game to play! It also showcases just how much computing power is available on the 360.

 

 

 MEG: How big do you think the gaming community is in the UAE?
Aman: Massive – there is tremendous potential here. People are getting more involved with upcoming games on the PC and on consoles, and are joining millions of gamers around the world every day.

Sachin: What’s happened now is that people have moved away from just gaming on the PC. With the arrival of next-gen consoles like the 360, a bridge has been formed between gaming on the PC and on the console. Now, developers are making games where you can be playing the game on a console against a person playing the same game on a PC.

MEG: For people who haven’t purchased a console or don’t know too much about the 360, what can you tell them in a nutshell?
Sachin: The 360 is a powerhouse of a console – there are great games available, superb graphics, multiplayer, Wireless…the list is endless. Plus, with the 360 you can stream music and pictures from a compatible Windows PC, so you can enjoy your PC content on a large LCD TV using your Xbox 360. What more could you ask for?

 

 

The rest of the day involved various gaming tournaments, where the winner would walk away with a brand new Xbox 360. The highlight of the day was a model posing as Marcus Fenix from Gears of War (see pic), who succeeded in scaring the crap out of me. All in all, the launch party was a roaring success, with the 360 firmly and finally planting its feet into UAE soil.

Playstation Eye for the Playstation 3!

Sony Gulf today announced the arrival of the next-generation Playstation Eye camera.

Scheduled for a Summer release in the Middle East, Playstation Eye is an essential accessory for voice, video chat and online gaming that will enable gamers to enjoy their Playstation 3 experiences like never before.

Designed specifically for PS3 and featuring huge advances in USB camera and microphone technology, Playstation Eye is set to revolutionise the experience of online communication on the Playstation Network. Expanding on the market-leading heritage of the EyeToy USB Camera for PlayStation 2, the sophistication of the Playstation Eye naturally complements the advanced features and capabilities of PS3 – all in one slickly designed, unobtrusive unit.

Designed specifically to work with the next generation of social gaming titles and new services being developed for PS3, key features of the Playstation Eye include:

• A sophisticated microphone with the ability to reduce background noise and focus on the spoken word for smoother, more accurate speech recognition and transfer
• The ability to capture videos and audio clips directly to your PS3’s hard disk drive
• Engineered to perform well even in low-light conditions
• A range of different capturing modes, including slow motion and time-lapse
• Faster frame rate for improved tracking, responsiveness and smoothness
• Two position zoom lens for close-up and full body options
• A range of eye-catching visual effects to apply to photos and videos
• Bundled with EyeCreate editing software, which allows users to save and edit photos, video and audio clips

Tim Stokes, Sales & Marketing Director, PlayStation Division – Sony Gulf Europe said, “PLAYSTATION Eye is a great example of how we have moved forward so significantly with our technology.  PLAYSTATION Eye has four times the resolution, twice the framerate and double the sensitivity of its predecessor EyeToy USB Camera. With the technology that we now have at our disposal we will be able to dramatically improve the communications experience enjoyed on PS3”.

EyeCreate software
EyeCreate editing software, bundled free with PLAYSTATION Eye allows you to save photos, video and audio clips to your PS3 hard disk drive and apply eye-catching visual effects to your images.  Different capture modes like time-lapse and slow motion open up a world of possibilities to be explored further in EyeCreate’s editing suite, where you can turn your media into professional looking movies.

New microphone functions
An all-new four microphone array, incorporating multidirectional voice location tracking, enhanced echo cancelling and background noise suppression allows for clear audio chat in even the most noisy of environments, without the need to hold or wear a headset.

Next-generation camera features
A frame rate of up to 120 frames per second allows for super-smooth video and sophisticated low-light operation means that the room doesn’t have to be brightly lit for the camera to deliver crisp, perfectly exposed video.  The adjustable zoom lens features a 56º field of view to capture head and shoulders action for close-in audio-visual chat, and a 75º field of view to capture the whole body for a fully physical gaming experience.

Technical Specifications:

• 4 channel audio input:16 bits/channel, 48kHz, SNR 90db
• 56º to 75º Field of View zoom lens
• 2.1 F-stop, <1% distortion, fixed focus (25cm to 8 at 75º FOV)
• 640 x 480 at 60 frames/second
• 320 x 240 at 120 frames/second
• USB2 high-speed data transfer
• Uncompressed video or optional JPEG compression

PS3\\\’s Oblivion available in the UK this Friday!

Ubisoft announced today that the blockbuster role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will be available for PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system in the UK on April 27th.

Released in March 2006 for Windows and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Oblivion has already earned countless awards from publications around the world including numerous Game and RPG of the Year awards. Gamerankings.com and MetaCritic.com list Oblivion as the highest rated game of all time on Xbox 360 and PlayStation3, and the Official PlayStation magazine in UK recently rated the game with an amazing 10/10, the first PS3 game to achieve that score in the magazine.

Oblivion is a unique role-playing game that features a powerful combination of free-form gameplay, unprecedented graphics and cutting edge AI. Gamers can choose to unravel Oblivion’s epic narrative at their own pace or explore the vast world in search of their own unique challenges.

After the mysterious and untimely death of the Emperor, the throne of Tamriel lies empty. With the Empire ready to crumble, the gates of Oblivion open and demons march upon the land – laying waste to everything in their path. To turn the tide of darkness, you must find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

A look at Microsoft\’s Xbox 360

Today is a great day for Middle East based gamers as Microsoft, for the first time, introduces their gaming consoles officially to the region. While many of us have already experienced the amazing power of the Xbox 360 and the experience it brings along with it, there are some of us who would like to know more. Read on.

The Xbox 360 is the second gaming console released by Microsoft and although the original Xbox showed some impressive power, the 360 is a beast of a machine. Coming with an IBM PowerPC based "Xenon" CPU, a custom ATI R500-based "Xenos" GPU, and 512 MB of ram all tucked neatly underneath its hood, the Xbox 360 is no joke.  Microsoft chose to only release the “Premium” version of the console in the Middle East and we think that this is the right move. This is a list of things that you will find in your package.

• 20GB Detachable Hard Drive
• One 2.4GHz Wireless Controller
• X-Box Live Headset
• Standard Composite as well as High Definition Component cables
• One Month Trial Gold Membership
• Ethernet Cable  

Price: AED 1799/-
     

The white finishing along with the green accents and lights makes the Xbox 360 look very sleek and attractive. Once you remove the 360 from the nicely packaged box, you’ll need to connect the TV cables as well as the Power Supply Unit. The Xbox 360 has an Ethernet port to connect to the Internet if you prefer to do that, however, built-in Wi-Fi would’ve been a better idea. You will probably want to keep the console in a vertical position as it saves space and looks better in my opinion.

The Xbox 360’s wireless controller is very similar to the original Xbox Controller S. There are 2 joysticks, the D-Pad, the expected X, Y, A, and B buttons, a back button, a start button, the RB and LB shoulder buttons, and the RT and LT trigger buttons. The feel of the controller is a definite step up from the original Xbox’s controller. Rumble effects are great and bring games to life. Although the design remains similar to the S Controller, the Black and White Buttons have been replaced with 2 shoulder buttons and the start and back buttons have been moved towards the center of the remote around the Xbox logo.

Ahhhh, the Xbox logo, how could we forget? As an actual button, the Xbox logo is used for setup purposes. On pressing the logo during a game, it will bring up the Xbox guide, a small side screen which gives immediate access to messages, music, and friends along with information of how much battery power is left on the controller. Pressing and holding the Xbox logo turns on/off the console. Unfortunately, the controllers do not come equipped with a rechargeable battery pack, but instead run off of AA batteries.

Setting up controllers with the Xbox 360 requires pressing the connect button on both the console and the controller and waiting for them to pick each other up. Depending on the remote number you are (1,2,3,4), a green LED will be lit around the Xbox 360’s power on/off button and around the controller’s Xbox logo.

The HDD attaches to the top or left side of the console, depending on how your orientation is set up. The only part of the HDD that plugs into the system is a small side connector. A cool feature of the 360 is that it can actually sense whether it’s laid down or standing up. We don’t recommend repositioning the Xbox 360 while playing a game. When we tried to do that the DVD media tray emitted a rather nasty sound.

The Component HD-AV cable can send signals in Standard AV or HDTV. To switch between the two signals, a flick of the button on the cable is required. Also included is an optical connector for 5.1 surround sound. 

In an effort to reduce the Xbox 360’s size, Microsoft decided to move the power supply outside of the box, so what you are seeing is the mutated beast that was born: The Xbox 360’s Power Brick. One more bad thing worth mentioning is that the unit can get loud while playing games and the reason for that is the noisy high speed fan that the 360 uses to keep things cool.

Xbox 360 Pre-launch party a smashing success!

Special guests from the gaming industry, distributors and select media were the first to try the much-awaited Xbox 360 console and games during the pre-launch party held last night at The 400, Fairmont Hotel. The event was organized by authorized distributor Pluto Derinton Games FZCO to celebrate the arrival of the powerful video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

Guests took turns playing with Xbox 360 games as shown in this photo.

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